Desert Rose
by foxnis
Summary: Rose and her best friend, Akila, are thrown in to Ancient Egypt by Ahkmenrah's tablet. Together, with their teacher who turned out to be an ancient Egyptian witch not from their time, must find a way back. The only way back is the way they came: back through the tablet. Unfortunately, the tablet is in the heavily guarded palace and it's not like they can just waltz right in.
1. Chapter 1

Bus rides are long, torturous even, especially on field trips. Unfortunately our destination didn't make up for the awful ride that gave me a cramp in my right leg from not being able to move for so long. We're headed to The American Museum of Natural History (long name, maybe they should shorten it). There are two reasons I agreed to this trip: 1) It gets me out of class for the day and 2) my best friend and the biggest Egyptian history nerd you'll ever meet wanted to go to see the tomb of a pharaoh who died over 4,000 years ago.

"You could look a little more excited," Akila huffs beside me. She's probably the only one who's excited to be going to the museum rather than just getting out of school. Akila – I've given her the nickname "Kiki" – was Egyptian herself, with long dark hair pulled into a high ponytail and bright green pools for eyes. Her fascination stems from the fact that her parents didn't celebrate any traditions from her culture, which was something she never really understood.

I turn my attention from the window to her. "I am," I lie and she gives me a look that says she knows I am. "I am," I emphasize in hopes to fool her, "my legs are cramped. That's all."

She studies my face for a second before rolling her eyes in annoyance. The look is quickly replaced with one of excitement as a grin as wide as the chesire cats spreads across her face. "I can't wait to see the tomb of Ahkmenrah," She sighs in a dreamy sort of way and I raise a brow. "Rose, do ever what you were in your past life?"

Probably a pile of trash but I won't say that out loud. I don't need to hear a lecture about how I'm beautiful and how I should love myself the rest of the way to the museum. "Not really. I don't know if I actually believe in all that," I tell her.

"I do. I like to think I was a princess who ruled over Egypt and was loved dearly by all of her people," she says in dreamy way like before. Had Kiki not been the one to approach me in our World History class freshman year, she and I would probably not be friends today. She was always dreaming about ruling over Ancient Egypt and to be honest, I couldn't blame her. Being a princess sounds way better than being a high school student in America.

I can't help but smile at the girl next to me who was now caught up in her own world. "I'm sure you were Kiki," I mumble before looking back out the window. But her question got me thinking. What was I in a past life? Did I even have one?

The bus pulls up in front of a very large, very old looking building that I can only assume is the museum. Everyone crowds off the bus, pushing and shoving their way to freedom and I feel a sense of relief once I'm finally off. I attempt to shake off the cramp in my leg as I examine the building. It's dull with very little people entering and leaving. There isn't anything attention grabbing about it on the outside and that's probably why.

I feel Kiki link her arm with mine and I look at her, the same wide grin that shows off her pearly white teeth from earlier etched on her face. "I can't wait," She says as she pulls me towards the group of students gathered around the two 12th grade history teachers chaperoning this trip and a man dressed in a security uniform.

"Alright kids! Please be quiet!" Mrs. Hanson shouts and everyone stops talking. She was the teacher Kiki and I had; a small woman in her late 50's with mousy brown hair, a pointed nose and eyes that seem to be stuck in a permanent glare. "Thank you. I will now go over the rules and our schedule for today."

Kiki's hand shoots up in the so fast I'm surprised it didn't detach from her body and fly into the air. Mrs. Hanson looks over at her annoyed and Kiki simply ignores it. "When will be seeing Egypt?" She asks.

"Well if you had let me get to the schedule," Mrs. Hanson lowers the glasses on her nose in a condescending way, "I would be able to tell you that we won't be seeing Egypt today."

I can see Kiki's shoulders slump as her face falls. "But-"

"No buts, Ms. Bassili. We don't have time for it," Mrs. Hanson snaps before she beins going over what exhibits we would be seeing as well as lunch and snack breaks. I gnore her and focus on my now saddened best friend who looks as if her whole world has been destroyed.

"Kiki, are you alright?" I ask in a whisper so Mrs. Hanson wouldn't hear me

"I guess," she says and shrugs her shoulders. "I was just so excited to see the tomb and everything, I guess, I didn't really think there would be a possibility that we wouldn't be seeing it."

I throw my arm around her shoulder and rub it comfortingly and she leans her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kiki," I say to her. "I know you were excited for Egypt."

Mrs. Hanson begins heading towards the building with the security guard by her side. Everyone follows in suite when I notice the other history teacher who accompanying us wasn't next to her. Suddenly, I feel like two holes are being burned in the back of my head and look behind me to see Ms. Eshe staring at me, giving me a look I couldn't really read. I slowly looks towards the front again and attempt to ignore her but I can still feel her watching me, the unreadable look still forefront in my mind.

Ms. Eshe was the other history teacher for the senior class. She was Egyptian like Kiki with long dark hair the fell just past her shoulders and dark brown eyes that seem void of any emotion. Kiki had wanted her as her history teacher for that reason alone.

I'll have to ask someone who has her as one if she has a staring problem or something later. But now that I think about it, I don't think I know anyone in our grade that has her as a teacher.

The entire tour is boring and for a trip that's supposed to open our eyes to the history of the world, we sure are sticking to American history. The most we've seen from somewhere else was Rome and I'm sure that's only because it was held in a diorama room with the West.

Kiki still isn't happy and I can't blame her. Mrs. Rogers was currently going on about Teddy Roosevelt and the security guard, who I've learned is named Larry, just nodded along. His face, on the other hand, doesn't seem to say to say he agrees with what she's saying even though she's spouting facts.

Mrs. Eshe, who is following behind the group to make sure no one wonders off, is still staring at the back of my head. I know because I can feel it. Two dark brown eyes feel like knives carving holes into the back of my head and all I want to do is hide inside the group.

I also have to pee. I have to pee really badly and I don't want to raise my hand because I don't want to be directly subjected to Mrs. Hanson cold gaze. Her glares aren't intimidating anymore but they're still uncomfortable. But the actual feeling of urine pushing against my bladder is probably a lot worse.

So many things to make me uncomfortable.

But an idea comes to mind so I guess I should thank my body for deciding it needs to dispose of liquids I had drank previously at this moment. My hand shoots up in the air and Mrs. Hanson stops talking about our 26th president to ask me what I want.

"Can Kiki and I use the restroom?" I ask her and her eyebrows rise up to match the knowing look on her face. She knows what I'm up to, she's not dumb. She's been a teacher for 23 years after all. Nonetheless, I smile innocently as I await her answer. Kiki, who has also caught on to what I'm doing, links her arm with mine and smiles as well. We're so good at acting not-suspicious.

"You _both_ have to go?"

Kiki and I nod. Mrs. Hanson gaze holds, waiting for one of us to falter but we hold ourselves. Our teacher keeps staring before a smirk that makes my stomach jump stretches on her face. "And you two can't wait ten minutes until our first break?"

There it was. The giant, gaping hole in my plan. I hadn't realized we had so little time until our first break but the idea to sneak off when we go to the restroom then comes to mind and I shrug. "Sure, I guess."

"Good," Mrs. Hanson smiles, something unnatural to her features. "On break I'll send everyone to the restroom if they need to go." Her smile falls back into a taunting smirk before she says, "One at a time."

That was the large, bloody butcher knife that tore the gaping hole open further. I look over at my best friend, whose shoulders are slumped and her face is stoic once again. I'm sorry, Kiki. I tried.

"I'll take them."

Everyone's head whips around in shock to look at Ms. Eshe, who hadn't spoken this entire trip until now. Mrs. Hanson also looks slightly surprised. "Are you sure? I'm sure they can wait." And then she glares at us. You're not intimidating, you old, no fun hag.

Ms. Eshe nods. "Yes. I have to go myself, actually." Her and Mrs. Hanson's gaze are locked onto each other and it looks like they're both about to throw down. I would love to see that. I don't know who I'd root for though, neither of them seem to like me much.

Mrs. Hanson looks like she's trying to read Ms. Eshe, as if the only other teacher on this trip is u to something. When she can't seem to find anything, she lets out a frustrated sigh. "Fine But make sure they don't run off" She tosses a glare mine and Kiki's way one last time before going back to talking about Teddy Roosevelt.

Kiki makes a small noise of excitement as the two us and Ms. Eshe head to the restroom. Except I'm not sure why she's still excited because we still can't sneak off with a teacher with us.

We get to the bathroom in silence before Ms. Eshe's phone goes off. She pulls it out, looks at the caller I.D, than at us and says, "Go ahead in, I have to take this." Then walks off. Wait, what? So you went through all that with Mrs. Hanson, just to walk off and leave us alone? She must not be very bright.

"Come one, let's go." Kiki grabs my hand and pulls me along. I begin protesting but she doesn't listen and continues to guide me through the museum. "Don't worry, I know where the exhibit is. I looked at the map in the front lobby when we came in."

"Kiki, Ms. Eshe is going to come back and see we're not there," I tell her. I was actually sick to my stomach with worry. Once her and Mrs. Hanson see's we're gone, they send everyone to look for us, and then when they find us, we'll get detention. And I haven't had a detention for the last 3 months. This'll kill my good streak "We're going to get in so much trouble."

"This was your idea," She huffs, clearly annoyed at my change of mind. And while she has a point, that was before a teacher came along with us and ruined it.

"Okay, your right there, but-" I stop speaking halfway because we came to the entrance of a room with two large dog headed guards standing on either side of it The dog guards aren't what caused me to stop speaking

I could feel… something coming from inside that room. An energy of some sort that surrounds us and I thought Kiki was feeling it too until I look over at her and see her looking at me like I'm on drug. How does she not feel that? That magnetic pull towards the inside.

My feet begin to move as I suddenly feel as if I have no control over my body. What's in here? What is this? Upon entering the room, I see that's its empty and I feel whatever it was that pulled me towards suddenly box me in. I feel like I'm suffocating on the inside. I feel like I'm high with no control over my movement. That is what it feels like to be high, right?

I can't even look around. My eyes immediately find a golden slab on the wall and my feet carry me over to it. "Rose?" I can hear my best friend calling out to me but I can't respond. Her voice sounds so far away.

Once I'm in front of the golden slab, I begin to reach out for it slowly. Why, I don't know. I want to stop myself. I know it's against the rules but I can't stop myself. I can still hear Kiki's voice but it's muffled now. I feel her grab my arm but it does no good. I'm still reaching for the tablet.

There's another muffled voice, one that doesn't belong to Kiki, followed by another hand gripping my other shoulder tightly. But it's too late.

I place my hand on the tablet.

There's a blinding white light.

Now everything is dark.

 _Am I dead?_


	2. Chapter 2

It's hot – extremely hot. I feel like I'm in a large oven, just melting away as drops of sweat slid down my skin. It also feels like there's hot sand digging into my back. Am I lying on sand? Heaven has beaches?

Or am I in hell? Heat so bad I think I'm turning in to a human puddle, Shit, I think I'm in hell.

I slowly open my eyes and regret it immediately. There's a blinding white orb which is obviously the cause for all this burning and my brain starts to pound inside my skull, likes it's trying to burst free and run as far as it can, away from here. Great, now I have a migraine.

Who knew you could feel pain in the afterlife?

I turn my head to the side as I attempt to not look at the sun, and I see Kiki lying next to me, her eyes still closed. Her chest is rising and falling, which indicates she is in fact breathing, and a sense of relief washes over me. She's alive.

A shadow towers over the two of us, the silhouette of a person it looks like. My chest tightens in fear as it says something in a language I can't understand, in a deep voice that's completely unfamiliar to me. I want to get up, pick up Kiki and run as far away as possible but I can't move. I'm too weak.

There's another voice, speaking in the same language, but I'm less afraid now because I know this voice. It sounds familiar, but I can't put a name nor a face to it. The two voices go back and forth, and I can feel myself slipping into an unconscious state again.

They stop talking and the silhouette above me looks like its bending over. I'm panicking inside but it doesn't last long as exhaustions consumes me and I black out once again.

 **(Omniscient)**

Limbs are tangled together, and soft whispers of love are exchanged as the two bodies lying on pure, gold colored satin sheets become one. The young man on top bites his lip as he pushes deeper, causing the woman under to grip the sheets with and say him name.

"Ahkmenrah," The dark haired beauty moans and her hand finds its way to the back of his head, her fingers gripping his hair. Her other hands falls down his back, digging her nails into his skin as it does so. "My pharaoh. My love."

These words please the young soon-to be king and he begins to move faster, harder. "Raziya," He groans, burying his face in her neck. "Let us let go together." She feels a sense of joy mix with the pleasure she's feeling as a smile graces her lips.

They're both close to climaxing when the door to the bedroom swings open, revealing Ahkmenrah's older brother, Kahmunrah. The two lovers are quick to jump, and scramble to cover themselves as Kahmunruh watches with a smirk.

"You're lucky it was I and not father, _baby brother_ ," Kahmunrah mocks as his little brother glares at him. "You know how he feels about you sleeping with the servants." And he sends Raziya a dirty look, who cowers, and clutches the blankets around her tightly.

"Kahmunrah," Ahkmenrah sneers at his older sibling as he scrambles to gather his clothes and put them on, "Get _out!_ "

Kahmunrah merely chuckles. "Father sent me to collect you," He explains. "We're heading into the city soon, and he wants the entire family to go. Make yourself decent, and come join us when you're ready."

With that, Kahmunrah leaves and Ahkmenrah manages to find both he and Raziya's clothes that had been tossed around the room. As he hands her clothing to her, he notices how she refuses to look him in the eyes. "Raziya? What's wrong?"

She grips her clothing tightly as what Kahmunrah had said replays in her head. Her chest is tight as she goes over the words in her head. "Your brother, he said… he said servants. Meaning more than one." She looks up, her brothers boring into the murky green ones of the man before her. "Are you…?"

"No!" Ahkmenrah sits on his bed and takes her hands into his. "You are the only one." His eyes are soft and caring, but it isn't enough to convince her. Still, she smiles and begins dressing as he does the same.

 **(End Omniscient)**

My entire body begins to ache again which makes me realize I'm waking up again. Except instead of scorching heat that burned my skin and an uncomfortable sandy feeling in my back, I now feel cool with something soft underneath me. My eyes slid open, and blinding white dot from before is gone. In its place is what I assume is a ceiling.

For a moment, I feel relief. Then I realize that I'm in an unfamiliar place and my body shoots up, only to bring back the headache from earlier. "Shit!" I curse under my breath as I place my palm to my forehead.

"Be careful, child. You took great fall."

One of the voices from before speaks and I finally notice the man sitting at a table across from where I am, sipping from a cup and looking out a window. "Who – Who the hell are you?!" I ask, the fear and panic present in my voice. Its then I realize, "And where the hell is my friend?! My teacher?!"

His eyes shift to me momentarily, a bored expression adorns his face that only makes me angry. "Your friend is fine. She and Eshe are in the other room," He tells me and goes back to looking out the window.

"Who are you?! Why are you so –"

"Gahiji, don't give her a hard time," Ms. Eshe comes out from behind a pair of beige curtains with an unamused look on her face, glaring at 'Gahiji.'

"Oh, God, Rose!" Akila comes darting out from behind the same curtains and barrels into me, her arms wrapping around me in tight hug. It doesn't help my aching body but I ignore it and hug her back. I'm just happy my best friend is safe. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Me, too! Oh, God, Kiki, I thought… I thought…" I didn't finish, just buried my face in her shoulder and held on to her, as if she'll disappear if I don't.

I look over Kiki's shoulder and my eyes immediately fixate on Ms. Eshe, who is now sitting at the table with this 'Gahiji' man, her own cup in her hands as she takes sips from it. She's staring right back at me with that unreadable expression of hers.

Kiki finally let's go of me and wipes away tears I didn't know had formed in her eyes. But as glad as I am that she's alright, I still have an unanswered question. Well, many unanswered questions. "What's going on? Where _are_ we?"

Ms. Eshe stands from her chair and walks over to a stove I'm just now noticing, where she grabs a cup from one of the shelves above it and grabs a kettle was sitting on one of the burners. She pulls something from a box sitting on a different shelf and places it in the cup before pouring in steaming water, then brings it over to me.

"Drink this, Rose. You'll feel better," She says.

"Ms. Eshe –"

She holds up a hand, "It's just Eshe, no Ms." She then holds out the cup towards me.

I eye it warily before taking it from her. "What's in it?" Then I take a sip. I scrunch my nose at the sour taste of the warm liquid but there's a slight cinnamon flavor to it. It tastes sort of like someone poured a bit it into a cup of day old milk (without the curdled chunks floating in it).

"This is awful!" The words came out before I could stop them and I smack my hand over my mouth, hoping I hadn't offended her, but I'm quickly surprised when she smiles and laughs.

"Isn't it?" Kiki agrees. "I had to drink some earlier. Almost threw up everywhere!"

"Not supposed to taste good," Eshe tells us as she walks back to the table. "It's merely a potion to help you speak normally."

Potion? Speak normally? "Can someone please, for the love of God –"

"It's Ra here, child," Gahiji speaks with a hint of amusement. I don't even understand what that means but I send a glare his way and tell him to shut up, which only seems to amuse him more.

"Gahiji, be quiet." Eshe glares at him and he raises his hands in front of him before sitting back in his chair. She looks back at us and sighs. "There is a lot I must explain."

She takes a deep breathe, and begins, "First, the potion I gave you and Kiki will allow you to understand our language as well as translate your language to ours even if it may not sound like it to you. You see, children, we are in Ancient Egypt. Four-thousand years in to the past for you, but seventeen years into the future for me."

Mine and Kiki's mouths drop open in shock.

"Nineteen years ago - for me, at least - a tablet was created. The tablet you two know as The Tablet of Ahkmenrah. It was created the day he was born and was gifted with power by The Moon God, Khonsu. Merenkahre, the current Pharoah of Egypt, and Ahkmenrah's father, had it created so that no matter what, he and his family would _always_ be together."

Kiki scoffs, "Yeah, so much for that." I nod my head in agreement.

Eshe ignores the remark and continues. "I had heard many things about the powers Khonsu would bestow upon an item that would then be given to someone as a gift. Most required sacrifices but being Pharoah, that was not needed."

"Two years later, the palace of the royal family was raided, and the tablet was taken. I won't go into detail here, just know that it fell into my hands." She gets up from her seat and walks over to the window, staring out it longingly. "I should have just returned it but I…"

I can hear the regret in her voice as she goes on. "But I'm a witch, as you've seen from the potion I gave you. I wanted to know what it could do. I wanted to see its power in action. It was during a full moon when I began to tamper with it. It… It began to glow, and suddenly… I was no longer in Egypt." She turns back to us. "I was in your time; in your city. I woke up in the museum"

"But the tablet was at the museum. Surely you could've just gone back during another full moon?" Kiki questions.

Eshe shakes her head slowly, her eyes filled with sadness, probably the first emotion I've seen from her yet. "I tried," She tells us. "But never lit up again, like it did before. I thought I was stuck forever in the future, never being able to return."

"Then I saw you two, and I just knew, _those two are my ticket back_. I just didn't know how. Then," Her browns eyes meet mine, "you touched that the tablet and suddenly, I was back."

I feel bad for Eshe, I really do. But this was a lot to stomach and left me with more questions then I started with. "So then, Kiki and I will just touch the tablet, and go back."

"That's not possible, unfortunately," Gahiji speaks up and I turn my attention to him as he places his cup on the table. "After Eshe disappeared, I wasn't sure what to do. You see, I am her assistant. So when she disappeared, I was out of work."

"I knew it had something to do with her disappearance, but I thought it killed her. So I returned it to the palace."

"So, then, let's just go to the palace and explain what happened. They'll understand, right? And let us use the tablet to go home," Kiki says.

Gahiji laughs bitterly and shakes his head. "Those at the royal palace despise witches. They won't let her anywhere near that tablet." He explains before looking at me. "Telling them you're from a different time will make them capture you and lock you up. They don't like _different_ here."

My stomach flips at his words. "What do we do then?" I ask.

The serious look on his face dissipates and forms a large grin from ear to ear, and claps his hands together. "First, we must go to the city and stock up on food."

"I would also like to visit some… old friends. I'm sure they would be happy to see me," Eshe adds with a glint in here eyes that tells me she's up to something.

"But what about Rose's hair? You just said she'd be imprisoned for it," Kiki points out.

Both Eshe and Gahiji both look at me in deep thought before exchanging glances. "Well, we could leave you here every time we run to the city, and it could be hours before we get back. You two might be here for a while. You'll need to know your way there and around since we can't keep you locked up the entire time."

Gahiji stands and walks over to a chest. He pulls out cloth and hands them to Eshe. "You'll both need a change of clothes. Eshe can make you some. Rose will also have to wear a scarf over her to cover her hair."

Eshe takes the cloth from him and begins walking to the next room. "Come," She says and gestures for us to follow her. "I'll get you both set up."


End file.
